Stay-cation update cont'd

Thursday - The shopping & driving from the day before had worn us out, so we stayed home most of this day. We played a few games, but mostly just lounged. We did go out late in the afternoon for a walk, with Ella riding her bike. Apparently I'm going to have to incorporate lots of physical education into our homeschool routine because my girl is out of shape! She didn't even want to pedal most of the time and she wimped out after our first hill. My mom & I have been trying to get her to walk with us 3 times a week. I guess we haven't worked her hard enough! :) So, after that short outing, we went over to an Italian eatery we hadn't been to before. Ella and I shared a pizza that had obviously been thawed and shoved in the oven to heat, so it wasn't very good. Paul enjoyed his sampler plate, though, that included baked manicotti, fetucini alfredo and chicken parmesan. Ella was still pretty tired, so we came home and had an extended story time before bed.

Friday - Ella had been talking about going to Cracker Barrel all week, so we gave in (it was so hard to twist our arms!) and went there for brunch. Ella and I shared some delicious blueberry pancakes, eggs and bacon. We had heard about an indoor miniature golf place in Orange Beach, AL and we were curious, so off we went. It wasn't the best course, but it sure beat playing in the heat, so we had a good time. Paul's been wanting to teach Ella to play golf, so he has tried to work on her technique each time we've played mini golf. She hit a few good shots, but other than that, she mainly did what she wanted. Sorry Dad. Not sure she'll be the future LPGA star you've been praying for! ;) After the golf, Ella was ready for another swim, so we hit the pool again. This pool had a shallow kiddie area that was separate from the deeper pool. She stayed in the kiddie pool most of the time, but she did spend several minutes in the big pool with her Daddy, swimming back and forth (in her swim vest on, of course!). We wanted to go to Lulu's for dinner and since Paul had been there before, he knew we had to get there early to beat the crowd. It seems that everyone else had this figured out and we still had to wait about 45 minutes when we got there at 4:30! The clouds provided great shade, though, so it wasn't very hot and there was actually a nice breeze. The entree I shared with Ella was good but didn't seem like enough food for the price. Good thing, though, because we had to save room for the homemade key lime pie. It was divine! We walked around for a few minutes, watching the boats come into the marina, then left for home. Paul and I put Ella to bed, then settled in to watch the summer shows recorded on our DVR ("great" shows like "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" - what does that say about the lack of good entertainment these days??).

Today - Well, today, we were supposed to go to the Blue Angel show at the beach with my family, but the more we thought about it yesterday, the more we dreaded it. Sitting in the heat for 6 hours because my family wanted to get there early to beat the traffic was not our idea of a fun vacation day. Plus, we had just seen the Blues in November and we're just plain exhausted! So, we're lounging again - well, Ella and I are lounging. Paul has been working in the yard. Bummer for him. Hopefully he'll quit soon so we can enjoy on of our last days of stay-cation.

Here are a few pictures of our adventures so far: